


Rest

by katiesparks



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Gen, Post-Canon, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-14
Updated: 2017-09-14
Packaged: 2018-12-27 19:45:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12088077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katiesparks/pseuds/katiesparks
Summary: Sewing wasn’t one of her normal hobbies and definitely not one of her favorites. She’d take working with automail any day of the week.But.Traditionally, younger brothers wore hand-me-downs, but until so very recently, Ed’s clothes had been made for a short and muscular boy, not a tall and painfully thin young man.





	Rest

She’d started out on the couch, by herself, and Ed had wandered in.

He hadn’t said anything, just grunted at her from around the book he had his nose buried in, and flopped down next to her. She’d kept sewing.

It wasn’t one of her normal hobbies and definitely not one of her favorites. She’d take working with automail any day of the week. 

But.

Traditionally, younger brothers wore hand-me-downs, but until so very recently, Ed’s clothes had been made for a short and muscular boy, not a tall and painfully thin young man.

He’d worn a lot of tank tops around the house, warm natured as he was. At home, he hadn’t needed to cover his automail and Winry liked to see it. It was much easier to keep an eye on that arm of his if it wasn’t hidden under long sleeves.

His tanks hung off Al’s coat-hanger shoulders oddly now, too short and too wide. The soft pants weren’t much better, hastily taken in at the waist until something better could be made, his ankles showing out the bottom as if he were prepared to go crawdad hunting in the creek down the road.

So, when she was free, Winry was sewing these days, making shirts and pants with room in them for Al to fill out, but that would still fit him now. When he had to go out, he wore some of Ed’s clothes, though even they were still too big. All that time in the hospital had fattened him up until the point where he wasn’t going to die off the IV, but….well. The Rockbells had a complete surgery suite onsite. If it looked like Al was going to drop weight again, he’d tote around the pole and deal with it.

Ed’s feet ended up in her lap, somehow, his nose still buried in his book. Winry put aside the sewing for a minute to test the motion range of the automail leg placed thoughtfully in her lap.

“You need to oil this more often, Ed.” She said and he grunted again. Winry shook her head and smiled.

Al came in not long after, in a tank top with a hem that just brushed the top of his belly button and gaped at the sides. He smiled at Winry and his cheekbones were sharp enough to cut glass.

“Brother, Winry! There’s a new radio drama coming out today!” Al exclaimed, eyes bright. “The Lieutenant told me about it when she called last night. I can listen to it, can’t I? I won’t have it very loud.”

Winry smiled at him. “Of course, Al. I’d appreciate the noise, I was bored anyways.”

Al turned on the radio in the corner and moved to sit on the floor. 

“Al, here.” Ed said suddenly, not turning from his book. He sat up, his feet still in Winry’s lap. Al traded an exasperated look with Winry, before occupying the space Ed had vacated.

Only to have Ed plop right back down into his lap. “Brother!”

“You’re cold, stop bitching.” Ed mumbled.

The radio drama picked that moment to start and Al did, indeed, stop complaining. They sat there like that for what seemed like forever, Winry diligently sewing, Ed flipping the pages of his book, Al leaning up against the side of the couch, a faint smile on his face as he listened to the drama.

Winry didn’t notice when the drama went off or when she stopped hearing the sounds of shifting paper. She did notice when the radio station cut off completely, though, and no one did anything about it as the soft sound of static filled the room. She paused in her work and looked up to find both boys fast asleep.

Al was hunched over, half leaning on the couch and his hair cast spiky shadows over his too sharp cheeks bones. In his lap, Ed’s head was cradled by his brother’s knees, mouth open and book laying across his neck.

Winry looked at the feet in her lap and wondered if she should even bother trying to get away. But leaving the radio on just because she didn’t want to get up was so wasteful…

Granny walked into the room and turned the dial. The sudden silence was broken by the faint wheeze of the boys breathing. Two sets, just out of sync with one another. She’d almost forgotten the sound of the two of them breathing at once.

Granny handed her a small container of machine oil.

“Best handle that now, before he ruins it again.” She said.

“Thanks Granny.” Winry smiled and set the shirt aside to oil the leg in her lap.

“They’ll be in pain if they sleep like that.” Granny remarked. 

“I’ll get them down to the floor, at least. You know those two, they sleep like the de—like rocks. They sleep like rocks.” Winry hastily corrected herself. She didn’t want to say anything like that.

“I’ll fetch some blankets and then I’m off to bed. It’s too late for these old bones.” Granny said cantankerously.

“Granny…” Winry giggled. 

The old woman returned and spread the blankets out on the rug and Winry eased out from under Ed’s feet and shook the older boy awake.

“Let’s get off the couch, Ed.” She said and his eyes slitted open.

“Eh?” he mumbled and Winry pulled him up, holding on to him as he stumbled to the center of the blankets and flopped down. 

Winry could’ve picked Al up he was so light and only half roused him as she threw his arm around her shoulders and heaved him up, laying him down next to Ed. The brothers latched on to each other even in sleep, Al’s nose pressing against Ed’s collarbone as Ed’s arm wrapped around his brother.

Winry spread a blanket over the top of them and turned to leave, sewing abandoned for rest. But a hand grabbed her ankle and she looked down to find golden eyes peering at her from beneath heavy eyelids.

“Stay.” Ed mumbled and his hand moved on her ankle in a way that reminded her of something being petted. 

“I’m just getting the light.” She said and his eyes dropped closed, the hand on her ankle going slack.

She could’ve escaped. Left and Ed never would’ve even remembered come morning. And down here, the rooster was sure to wake them all up at sunrise, whereas, in her room, the noise was much quieter.

But somehow, this late, with the quiet around them and the soft sounds of her two boys, home and whole at last, Winry found she didn’t mind the thought of an early morning. She cut out the light and went back to crawl under the covers and prop her head up on Ed’s shoulder. He grunted and wiggled his arm out from in between them, wrapping it around her and squeezing until she was pulled in just as tight as Al.

She would likely have a crook in her neck in the morning and no one to blame but herself. But, just for now, she found she didn’t mind.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this like 2 or 3 years ago and never got around to posting it. But I came across it the other day and thought, hey, why not?


End file.
